Oh, god. Critical Mass vs. the Corpro-Orwellian London police and the Olympics. Subby, I don't think my hate organ can produce enough hate to hate everyone involved in this as much as they deserve to be hated. And I hate you for exhausting my hate organ.

News: Police arrest 182 people. Fark: For riding their bikes as a form of organized protest, willfully doing so on restricted roads in defiance of the warnings they received but since they on BIKES the rules don't apply to them. That seems more complete.

On one hand, I can understand the anger of the people of the UK toward their government over the VIP-only lanes, London is a transport nightmare when it comes to automobiles and surface roads, and I don't see any other way they would be able to move people around the city who have to be in specific places at specific times, other than this or helicopters.

I think I'll hate the authoritarians. I can ignore assholes, authoritarian dickholes with guns and a badge are a bigger threat.

Happy now that you picked a side you can feel superior to, someone you can root for like everything is a game? You forgot to call me an authoritarian though.

you ARE an authoritarian, but it's not relevant to this discussion. well, not until you made it so anyway. like I said - authoritarians dickholes with badges/guns are the bigger threat. obnoxious cyclists are way down on my list of things to worry about. I think they're right above '10 year cross dressers wearing clown makeup'.

Dwight_Yeast:I don't see any other way they would be able to move people around the city who have to be in specific places at specific times, other than this or helicopters.

The same way everyone else in the city manages to get to specific places at specific times. By leaving with enough time to travel to your location. Do you think only VIPs are able to get places on time?

oh, critical mass... making already congested traffic worse in order to prove that bikes are better.

"traffic is horrible today""yeah, it's all these farking bikes riding slowly in all lanes, not getting out of the way""guess we should get bikes too right?""or maybe these assholes can keep right (or left, depending on area) like they're supposed to and we can all get where we're going"

Weaver95:I think I'll hate the authoritarians. I can ignore assholes, authoritarian dickholes with guns and a badge are a bigger threat.

Unless you are trying to make a left turn, and the critical ass groups decides that they don't give a fark about the light turning red, and continue to stream through the red light for 15 minutes, causing you to be late for a job intereview, which job you then don't get, so now you have no disposable income at Christmas to buy your son that GI Joe with the kung-fu grip, and you have to look him into his teary little eyes and explain to him that critical ass ruined Christmas...AGAIN!!!

And if you try to turn left on the green arrow as is your right of way, they'll block you, and then surround you, and start beating on, vandalizing and defacing your car, and possibly try to remove you from your car to beat you, until you produce your weapon and start firing warning shots into people skulls.

Dwight_Yeast:On one hand, I can understand the anger of the people of the UK toward their government over the VIP-only lanes, London is a transport nightmare when it comes to automobiles and surface roads, and I don't see any other way they would be able to move people around the city who have to be in specific places at specific times, other than this or helicopters.

These are not vip lanes, they are lanes so the athletes and officials can get to the venues on time. Cus you know if we didn't it would be like Atlanta where atheletes missed events while stuck in traffic.

NutWrench:Cyclists claim they were "kettled", but the Met did not respond to the claims.

I don't know what "kettled" means but I assume this is a cop tactic similar to herding pedestrians into an area, not allowing them to leave and then arresting them for "refusing to disperse?"

Pretty much. The idea is they herd protesters, sometimes hundreds of people, into tightly packed spaces for hours on end in the middle of summer without any shade, occasionally charging mounted police through them. The idea seems to be to wait until they are all dehydrated and bursting to have a piss so they put up less of a fight when try are arrested. It's a bit of a dick move, but a favourite tactic of London cops.

Arrogant, arrogant dickwads. It's on the opening day of the poxy olympics, an event that has been widely publicised, espcially for the no-bullshiat approach the police and security forces are RIGHTLY taking with regards to protecting the event. They were rumbling for a scrap, and they came up against a brick wall of authority

I don't know what "kettled" means but I assume this is a cop tactic similar to herding pedestrians into an area, not allowing them to leave and then arresting them for "refusing to disperse?"

Pretty much. The idea is they herd protesters, sometimes hundreds of people, into tightly packed spaces for hours on end in the middle of summer without any shade, occasionally charging mounted police through them. The idea seems to be to wait until they are all dehydrated and bursting to have a piss so they put up less of a fight when try are arrested. It's a bit of a dick move, but a favourite tactic of London cops.

The Evil That Lies In The Hearts Of Men:Pretty much. The idea is they herd protesters, sometimes hundreds of people, into tightly packed spaces for hours on end in the middle of summer without any shade, occasionally charging mounted police through them. The idea seems to be to wait until they are all dehydrated and bursting to have a piss so they put up less of a fight when try are arrested. It's a bit of a dick move, but a favourite tactic of London cops.

I had thought that the general thought was to leave people a route through which to disperse, and that the "get everyone" approach had been found to just make a surly crowd into a dense ball of violent crazy.

Everywhere they happen, the Olympics are used as an opportunity to advance gentrification and crush dissent. It's the world's biggest and greatest distraction.

detroitdoesntsuckthatbadCritical Mass @ the Olympics? Maybe they can double the fines like in a construction zone. It's the only group of bicyclists that even bicycle rights supports hate consistently.

Good. It's not a bicycle rights group. Critical Mass is about taking space and empowerment, not 'rights'.

SevenizGud:Weaver95: I think I'll hate the authoritarians. I can ignore assholes, authoritarian dickholes with guns and a badge are a bigger threat.

Unless you are trying to make a left turn, and the critical ass groups decides that they don't give a fark about the light turning red, and continue to stream through the red light for 15 minutes, causing you to be late for a job intereview, which job you then don't get, so now you have no disposable income at Christmas to buy your son that GI Joe with the kung-fu grip, and you have to look him into his teary little eyes and explain to him that critical ass ruined Christmas...AGAIN!!!

And if you try to turn left on the green arrow as is your right of way, they'll block you, and then surround you, and start beating on, vandalizing and defacing your car, and possibly try to remove you from your car to beat you, until you produce your weapon and start firing warning shots into people skulls.

fireclown:The Evil That Lies In The Hearts Of Men: Pretty much. The idea is they herd protesters, sometimes hundreds of people, into tightly packed spaces for hours on end in the middle of summer without any shade, occasionally charging mounted police through them. The idea seems to be to wait until they are all dehydrated and bursting to have a piss so they put up less of a fight when try are arrested. It's a bit of a dick move, but a favourite tactic of London cops.

I had thought that the general thought was to leave people a route through which to disperse, and that the "get everyone" approach had been found to just make a surly crowd into a dense ball of violent crazy.

So more arrests and fines, you say?

I'm sure that's in no way beneficial to professional law enforcement careers and the city's revenue.

t3knomanser:Oh, god. Critical Mass vs. the Corpro-Orwellian London police and the Olympics. Subby, I don't think my hate organ can produce enough hate to hate everyone involved in this as much as they deserve to be hated. And I hate you for exhausting my hate organ.